Obama: North Korea will achieve nothing with provocation

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- President Barack Obama warned North Korea Sunday that if it moves forward with a planned test-firing of a long-range missile, it will further deepen its isolation, damage relations with its neighbors and face additional sanctions that have already strangled the country.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations," Obama said during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on the eve of an international nuclear security summit. "North Korea knows its obligation."

Obama's strong words follow last week's announcement by North Korea that it is planning to carry out a rocket-powered satellite launch in April.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said during the news conference that he considers the launch a direct violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that bans the testing of the technology being used in the rocket-powered satellite. South Korea has said it considers the satellite launch an attempt to develop a nuclear-armed missile, while the United States has warned the move would jeopardize a food-aid agreement reached with Pyongyang in early March. "Bad behavior will not be rewarded," Obama said.

North Korea says it has a right to a peaceful space program and has invited international space experts and journalists to witness the launch. North Korea announced this month it would carry out a "satellite launch" in mid-April to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founder.

Using ballistic missile technology, however, is in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 and against a deal struck with the United States earlier this month that it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests in return for food aid.

Prior to the news conference, Obama made his first visit to the demilitarized zone that splits the Korean peninsula. Obama peered through binoculars into North Korea where flags flew at half-staff to mark the 100-day anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il. "It's like you are in a time warp. It's like you are looking across 50 years into a country that has missed 40 or 50 years of progress," Obama said during the news conference.

The president said the real consequence for North Korea, should it go through with the launch, is that the country's leaders will miss an opportunity "to take a different path than the one they have been taking."

"I hope that at some point the North Koreans make the decision that it is in their interests to figure out how to feed their people and improve their economy rather than have big parades where they show off weapons," Obama said.

The purpose of Obama's visit to the demilitarized zone was to meet with some of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.